1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to hinge assemblies and, more particularly, to a hinge assembly for a collapsable electronic device.
2. Description of Related Art
A collapsable electronic device, such as a notebook computer or mobile phone generally includes a main body and a cover pivotally mounted on the main body by a hinge assembly.
A commonly used hinge assembly includes a pivot shaft and friction member rotatably sleeved thereon. The pivot shaft and the friction member are respectively fixed to the main body and the cover. The friction member is capable of holding any position relative to the pivot shaft because of friction created between the pivot shaft and the friction member. Thus, the cover can be opened to any angle relative to the main body, and remain therein. Generally, the friction member is integrally manufactured by bending a metallic sheet. However, it is difficult to achieve a precise dimension or desired shape for the friction member formed this way. Thus, a manufacturing cost of the friction member is relatively high. In addition, the friction member made by the metallic sheet has poor metallic strength, and is easily deformed, such that friction created between the pivot shaft and the friction member is not stable, and the cover cannot be stably opened to any angle relative to the main body. Further, friction created between the friction member and the pivot shaft cannot be adjusted to adapt to different sized device.
A second commonly used hinge assembly includes a pivot shaft, a friction member rotatably sleeved thereon, and two outer barrels sleeved on opposite ends of the friction member. The friction member includes two separate half members. Each half member includes a curved portion and two straight portions extending from opposite ends thereof. The straight portions are received in the outer barrels correspondingly. This hinge assembly may be stable and less difficult to manufacture, but friction created between the friction member and the pivot shaft still cannot be adjusted to adapt to different sized devices. Therefore, the second typical hinge assembly can only be used with collapsable electronic devices having determined sizes.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.